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Published: June 24th 2008
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Craters of the Moon
A National Monument. This is only a recent volcano , erupted about 2000 years ago From Canyonlands we intended to go to Grand Teton then Yellowstone National Park. But at Flaming Gorge it started snowing and the weather forecasrt was for heavy dumps so , instead, we headed north and turned west to find out what Idaho was like. Our First impressions were not good--- Monsanto mining phosphate near Soda Springs---intensive potato growing everywhere, however one of our first stops was Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge where we saw some of the 200 pairs of sandhill cranes (it has the largest breeding colony in the States), Franklin's gulls (our first 'seagulls' since leaving California!) and American avocets (like ours but pink, black and white). Birds were setting up territories despite the snow and biting wind. Next stop was Craters of the Moon National Monument- a huge lava field which was formed through many 'eruptions' between 15000 and 2000 years ago. There are lava caves and even 'fossil' imprints of trees which were engulfed by the molten rock. And the whole thing looked like it could have formed in the last few years! From there we headed into the Sawtooth National Forest and the area around Sun Valley, Idaho's main skiing destination, and home of the wealthy
Bliss
Hotwater tub on the Salmon River. Ospreys were flying overhead as well. including Bruce Willis and Jamie Lee Curtis (we didn't meet either). Due to the late snows, people were still skiing and the campsites and trails were mostly closed, however we were able to camp for free at a couple of sites, one on the Salmon River with an osprey nesting nearby, a herd of elk (red deer)grazing on the campsite at night, Columbia ground squirrels everywhere, and steelhead salmon forcing their way up river to spawn. We were also informed by a passing motorist , just as we were about to turn in for the night, that there was a bear just around the corner! We slept with whistles, Trangia lid and a big stick close at hand incase we needed to scare away any ursine invaders. Luckily we did not need to use them! Next morning we discovered a natural hot tub on the roadside nearby. A hot spring had been piped under the road and into a large wooden barrel. Buckets were available for baling in river water, and the hot water could be diverted into the river so the perfect temperature could be achieved. We just had to go in. Ospreys flew overhead as we enjoyed this
welcome hot bath! The Sawtooth Mountains are spectacular and live up to their name- ridges of very sharp pointy summits-and magical with snow on them. The next campsite, on the Payette River, one of the top whitewater rivers in the US, also had a hot spring. Idaho was really growing on us! We discovered that they even make quite decent wine!! We spent 2 days on the Selway/Clearwater/Lochsa rivers- amazingly powerful being full of snow-melt, and flowing in steep sided forest clad valleys. Spring had finally arrived and with it, loads of flowers including shooting stars, trilliums, yellow lilies, calypso orchids, larkspurs and wild clematis. By now we are thinking about how we can live here for a couple of years... Dave could easily find a job with the Forest Service, whilst Kerry could learn the art of white water rafting! (Dave hasn't read this bit). By spending a week in Idaho we hoped we had given the snow in Yellowstone time to melt, so this was where we headed next. Camping just outside the park we heard our first wolves (had seen prints in the snow in the Sawtooths) and saw our first buffalo with very young calves. Next
Lochsa River.
Some people having fun. Lochsa means "Rough" morning, driving into the park we ran into the first of many 'buffalo jams'. Wherever buffalo were grazing next to the road, loads of cars would stop to take pictures of video them causing traffic chaos. "Bear jams' were even worse- if a grizzly was sighted, cars stopped dead or slewed into laybys in a dangerous fashion causing mayhem. Snow was still fairly thick in parts of the park causing many of the trails to be closed, however we did walk around Norris Geyser Basin and Mammoth Hot Springs which were fantastic. The terraces at Mammoth are changing all the time and even engulfing trees! As the weather again turned bad we headed for a motel in Jackson (Jackson Hole is the valley) for a couple of nights, taking in the National Museum of Wildlife Art (fantastic collection with Robert Bateman, Carl Rungius and Bruno Lilljefors all there), and at the other end of the cultural spectrum, the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (saddles for bar stools, silver dollars in the bar). Jackson is a great place- abit like Keswick but more lively, and with even better outdoor shops. For Memorial Day weekend (Spring Bank Holiday) we rented a cosy log
Buffalo Jam in Yellowstone
You always knew where the wildlife were because of traffic jams. This lot caused quite a tail back cabin at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park. It is another place we'd love to come back to and do some proper walks when there is no snow! On 26 May we crossed the Continental Divide (all downhill to the Atlantic from here!) and started on our yourney east. Wyoming and E Montana are not particularly inspiring, with lots of oil and gas extraction, and we couldn't get through North Dakota fast enough, although however fast you drive it takes at least a day and a half ! We did stop to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the only NP in N Dakota and saw more buffalo, wild horses and hundreds of prairie dogs. Eventually we arrived in Minnesota and camped for a couple of days on the banks of the Mississipi, quite near its source. Here we visited the Big Bog- 500 square miles of peat bog and the largest remaining wilderness in the contiguous states. We found many similarities to our bogs back home (cranberry, bog rosemary and of course sphagnum) but many differences too- pitcher plants, labrador tea and leatherleaf were all common components. They have just build a half mile long boardwalk onto the bog-
but it is made of aluminium and plastic not wood! What we really came to Minnesota for was the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a 1.3 million acre area of forest and inter-connected lakes near the Canadian border where motor boats are mostly banned and the only way to get about is by canoe. In Ely we hired a lovely light We-noh-nah boat and set off with enough food for four days. What a great place! We only covered about 40 miles but as long as you could carry the food, you could stay out there for weeks! Our arrival on the shores of Lake Superior coincided with some spectacular weather. One night 4 inches of rain fell in 6 hours causing roads to wash out and the shores of Superior to turn from clear blue to chocolate brown! We spent four days driving around the northern shore, crossing into Canada at Thunder Bay, staying at State and Provincial Parks. Pukaskwa National Park in Canada was one of the most beautiful, with polished granite headlands and sandy beaches covered in driftwood, almost like the sea. At Killarney Provincial Park we encountered the first really bad mosquitoes of the trip- worse
Marmot
one of the cutest and fattest animals in the Grand Tetons than Fiji! Even going for a walk in the woods required us to wear head nets! But the flowers and the scenery just about made up for it- pink ladies slipper orchids everywhere! Before making our way to Toronto we visited the Bruce Peninsula, a limestone promontory which divides Georgian Bay from the rest of Lake Huron. Kerry visited in 1999 but later in the summer. We have never seen so many yellow ladies slipper orchids (the same species we have in Yorkshire and Cumbria-just)- thousands upon thousands of them! Then, we held our breath and drove into the city....
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